The Higher Order, Part 1: New Recruits
by Black-Rose Marley
Summary: The first story in the Higher Order trilogy. A story of the agency that came before the Capitol. It involves a government controlling agency, strict rules and regualtions, and the mentor from hell, a British girl with a fierce loyalty to the agency. How will Michael, a new recruit, handle all this? Rated for language and a little violence.


**AN: So this is a Hunger Games fanfic that really has nothing to do with The Hunger Games until the end. You'll see the tie in later. This was going to be an original story, but while developing ideas, I was also reading The Hunger Games, and after writing a little of this, I realized it had too many simularities, so I edited the storyline a bit to be a Hunger Games fanfiction. And here it is.**

"So, where's your mom?" Ryan Chadwix, my best friend, asks me. He dribbles the basketball and shoots it from the end of the driveway, making it in.

"Lucky shot," I mutter, but it's not. He's just that athletic, and I'm not. Still, I take the ball and shoot it from where he did, coming up a few feet short. "She's out. I don't know," I answer his question from earlier to keep him from laughing at my lack of basketball skills.

"If she's not careful, she's gonna get picked up by the Order," Ryan says, quieter now.

"Myth," I reply.

The Higher Order is a mythical agency that supposedly controls the government we all know of. There are people who believe it exists, like Ryan, and people who say they know people who have been taken by the Order, like my annoying neighbor, Eddie Harris. Eddie came to school one day three years ago, saying his brother Thomas had been taken by the Order to be an agent. Of course, by the time Ryan and I heard it, the rumor mill had done its job, and Thomas no only had been taken by the Order, he had been given a public execution for drinking at age 15.

Even Ryan was cynical after that.

"It's not a myth," Ryan says. "There's scientific evidence!"

"Scientific evidence? I think you just say random things when you don't know what you're talking about," I say.

"Maybe that's true! Wait—" he cuts off. "Never mind. But how do you explain all the people who go missing in high school? Their families won't say anything; their friends have no idea, and Eddie?"

Have I mentioned Ryan is a conspiracist?

He passes me the basketball and I miss, as per usual for me. I turn to get it, only to find my annoying neighbor Eddie standing behind me, holding it.

"Give it," I say.

"Why would I?" he retorts.

'Good question,' I think, but Ryan takes care of the answer for me.

"You'd better, or Michael will beat you up again!" he calls.

How I had beaten Eddie up made me famous. No one knows I hadn't actually meant to hit him, not even Eddie, so Ryan likes making fun of him for it. The fact that I'm really not that athletic helps.

Eddie is glaring at me, and I swear he would have knocked me out if we hadn't heard the voice that belongs to the most beautiful girl I know. Lucy Henson, my neighbor across the street for as long as I can remember, is walking across the street, yelling, "Leave him alone, Eddie!"

"Hey Lucy," I say. She smiles at me before turning back to Eddie.

"You're a rotten bully, Eddie! Why do you always have to pick on people?"

"I don't pick on you," he says, softer now.

She glares. "Only because you know I'll get you in trouble with your mom again. I swear, how a boy your age can be afraid of his mommy is beyond me."

Ryan and I laugh at Eddie's embarrassed look. "She always brings up my brother," he says.

Now whether we believe the rumors about Thomas and the Order or not, we know that Eddie did have an older brother who used to drink. We don't know if he still does. Who knows, anyway? He could be drinking with whoever or whatever resides on the other side, waiting to judge you as you die. Or something.

"You don't know how it is, Lucy, to have a brother taken by the Order," he quiets down. "You've never even had a brother. I hear they could die there. I hear there are some people who want them to die. I hear things that my mom tells my dad that scares me. They think he's already dead. They don't know, though. I'm not afraid of her. I'm afraid of what she could tell me."

I think Eddie forgot for a moment that Ryan and I were there, until Ryan starts laughing, that is. "Oh, come on. I know the Order exists, and I don't even believe that's all that can scare a person about their parents. Really, Eddie? It's no wonder Michael was able to beat you up. You're really a wimp at heart."

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about." He turns back to Lucy, who rolls her eyes at his persistence. I tune them out. I don't really want to hear Eddie flirt with her.

"Hey, Eddie, who's that at your house?" Ryan asks, his teasing tone gone. We all look. The man looks like a soldier. He's wearing a tan button down shirt buttoned all the way up and tan shorts past his knees. He has what look like combat boots on, but it's hard to tell from where I'm currently standing.

"Shit," Eddie mutters.

"What?" I ask.

"That looks exactly like the guy who took my brother," he explains.

"You think he wants you now too?"

"I don't know, but I hope so."

I don't have a chance to ask why, because the man moves across the street now to Lucy's house. He knocks on the door, and her dad slowly opens it. Lucy had told me a few days ago that her dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, and was getting sicker by the day. She had said she hates watching him deteriorate and wishes she could just leave, but she would feel too guilty. She's a good girl at heart.

When he's done talking to Lucy's dad, he heads across the street directly to us. He stops in front of us and no one says anything.

Eddie is the first to talk. "Where's my brother? Thomas Harris? You took him three years ago, remember? From this very house!"

"Quiet!" the man demands. "My name is Timmon," he says, calmer now. "Are you Lucy Henson, Ryan Chadwix, Eddie Harris, and Michael Johnson?"

We all nod.

"I have orders to take you with me. We have parental consent, and the authority to use force if necessary, so it would be better for all of us if you just come."

"We?" I ask. "Who else is here?"

"Another man working with me," he replies. "No one you know," he adds, seeing Eddie's desperate look. "Now, come on."

"Where are you taking us?" Ryan asks, sounding tougher than he really is.

"I have orders from the Higher Order to take you in. You have all been chosen as agents for the Agency."

**Reviews are appreciated, because I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this. **


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